A Prayer For A Friend

I got an email from a friend over in the UK by the name of Cyril. His wife found a lump in her breast, but because of the way the health care system works over there, it will be 16 weeks before she can get into a specialist to see what's going on.

He and his wife are both stressed beyond measure, to be sure.

He did receive some advice from a friend that said, why not get a private consultation and test. The test is 144.00 pounds and the consult fee is another 100.00. That would take only 3 weeks to see someone. If something were found, that could be used in the referral for a specialist.

Of course the fear that exist now is the only thing that they can think of, and the thought of living with that fear of confusion for another 3 weeks before they even knowing what it is, is a bit overwhelming to them. So they reached out to me in email.

Instead of answering that privately, I have decided to answer it publicly. Please read through my response to him, and if you at all believe like I do, please join with me at the end in agreement.

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Cyril (and wife if you read this), the bible says that God goes before us and stands behind us. The writer of that passage was considering this as a war metaphor. He's the one that leads the charge and is the first to do battle with the enemy. He is also our rear gard to protect us against a sneaky flanking attack to our rear. Because when the enemy sneaks up behind you, you are the most vulnerable. So you need a rear guard to watch your back side. Again, as a rear guard, He would be the first to encounter and do battle with your enemy. The heavy lifting in fighting has already been done, and the enemy softened up, so to speak, before he ever gets to us. Our job in fighting is therefore made to be easier.

There is another deeper aspect that I want you to consider as well. The Bible again says, that He knew us before He formed us in the womb. So before conception He knew everything about us. That is possible not because he can predict or foretell the future, but because as an all powerful God, he exists in every moment in time. His understanding, and his relationship to time, is nothing like ours. Crazy, right? 

So now tie that back to the first paragraph. He goes before us, and stands behind. Apply that to the understanding that God exists in all moments of time. He's behind us in our past. And when we look to our past, can we honestly say that God has never been there for us? If we are honest and truthful with ourselves, the answer is no we cannot say that. He has indeed been there with us in our time of need in the past. He also goes before us. So then He is already in our future preparing the way of escape for us before we ever get there.

Amazing.

Many times we fail to see that reality of Him already in our future acting on our behalf, and fail even further to see that there is a way of escape prepared for us. We want or expect God to snap his God fingers and make our lives perfect and trouble free. But we are not babies that we should demand perfect carefree lives of perfection. We are creatures of choice and circumstance. So we should therefore be praying, believing, and counting on 2 things.

1. - A miracle.

God is still proving He does miracles today. I have seen a man that needed a cane to hoble around on, and in deep need of pain medication, turn perfectly fine in the span of 24 hours. I have seen a woman with no ear drum and no inner ear bones on one side of her head, instantly begin to hear, and still hears out of that ear today. Whisper in it, and she will tell you what you say. These are things I have seen with my own eyes. What He does for one, He can/will do for another. He does not hold one more special than the other. So we believe in a miracle for this situation.

2. - A way of escape.

This can be found in the simple understanding that God loves you so very much, and in that understanding comes peace no matter the circumstances that surround us. No matter the confusion, no matter the fear that threatens, no matter the circumstance that we find ourselves in. For if I am at peace even though the world may be crumbling down around me, have I not found an escape? It could also be that a way of escape is already being lived out now in this circumstance, for finding this lump now, could turn into a preventative measure that prolongs your wife's life by many years. Imagine had she not discovered it for many many months from now and it indeed was pronounced to be cancerous. It could be that this very sound advice from a friend is indeed the escape that is needed, to again, find something early and deal with it now. It could mean all of what I said. It could also be that your escape is something that has yet to present itself because the timing is not yet right. It could be any number of things. It is equally likely that she is perfectly fine, and this is nothing more than an attack of fear against a family that has suffered many such attacks.

Those are the 2 things we believe in, and those are the 2 things I now pray for. No flowery words. No religious sounding vicar.preacher speak. Just a simple declaration.

God I ask and expect you to do what you have said that you would do. To do what you have done for others. To do what you are doing for others right now. To act on their behalf. To demonstrate your immense love for them both through a miracle. Something that all around them can say, that must surely be God. That this moment in our time, become a testimony to others. And that this moment of worry, doubt, and despair, be nothing more than the sharpening of the sword that ultimately wounds and defeats our enemy. For you turn all bad things to good. God I ask also that you present a way of escape. Be that in the physical sense, or be it just through the incredible understanding that you have their back, and that the peace that can only come through you, bombard them right now. That it lasts. Not for just this moment, but a lasting peace that also become a part of their testimony. A peace that would make others ask, what's so different about you. That it would become a peace that turns into a catalyst that changes lives around them. Your are God. You Love them beyond our understanding and ability to measure. So I ask that you show it now.

He is...

I think this is pretty cool. I realize it is a kid acting and performing for a message for his church, but he also speaks with conviction and belief. Very nice finish at the end.

A Lesson From A Shoe Shiner

Albert Lexie is a shoe shiner. One of those guys you see shining people's shoes in airports. He works his little self run business in the lobby of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and he has been shining shoes there for 32 years.

By all accounts, he is not getting rich being a shoe shiner.

A shoe shine from Mr. Lexie will run you $5. If you are like most people, however, you won't just pay $5. You pay that and then add on some extra for a tip. Most people pay him $6 to $7 for his service. Now I don't know about you, but I would take that blessing and apply it to all sorts of things. From a night at the movies, to a new shiny something or other that I just "had to have".

Not this guy...

Albert Lexie is a good man, and he believes that being a good man not only involves the condition of the heart, but actions that are motivated out of that condition.

So for the last 32 years, Mr. Lexie has given every single cent from every single tip to the same hospital who's lobby he as called his work place for all of this time.

Total sum: $200,000.00

That represents a full third of his total life's paycheck. I don't know about you, but that humbles me. Here is a man that has lived what many preach but seldom do. He has coupled his hands with his heart. In doing so, he has taught many of us a lesson.

Thanks Mr. Lexie

(image credit WTAE Pittsburgh)

A Valentines Day Confession

I have been married going on 16 years. I would like to think I have learned a few things. I probably have, but there is only one that really comes to mind. It is simply this...

Suck it up, buttercup, and quit whining!

You see, in that 15 to 16 years, you can bet we experienced a "rough patch". Every single marriage does. In my case, our rough patch was brought on by my shear, unrestrained selfishness. I wanted something, and I did not care who I hurt to get it. In fact, I arrogantly thought that I could have the something that I wanted and keep it a secret so that no one would ever find out. I selfishly over looked the fact that if my secret were ever discovered, my family of a wife and 4 kids would be ripped into pieces and we would all turn into just one more notch on the gun barrel of divorce statistics.

What was it that I wanted so bad? What was it that I risked everything over?

I wanted to cheat.

I had a cute young thing barely old enough to be legal, flutter her eyelids at me about 5 years ago. It made me feel like a kid again. The only thing I could think of day to day, was how much I wanted to have sex with her. It consumed me. I forgot about my family. I forgot about everything that had been accomplished in my life. I forgot about the amazing blessings that woke up with me every day in my home. My wife and kids just turned into a distraction that was keeping me from my goal; my goal from sleeping with a hot young redhead. And it was a goal that I regret to admit, that I accomplished.

Now all of those that know me as a photographer and the host of the PhotoTips podcast, and all those that know me as a morally upright, bible thumping Jesus freak, are probably choking on their coffee right now.

You never saw this confession coming, did you?

Actually, I have never tried to keep any of my past a secret. I have turned it into a part of my life testimony. That we all make stupid selfish decisions, and we all have to live with the results of those decisions. It is also a reminder and example to others that no matter how far you think you have fallen, you can indeed rise above the ashes and become something better.

This trist happened about 5 years ago as I was just considering starting the PhotoTips podcast, and lasted for a full year. At the end of that year, the truth came out. When it did, my wife, who loved me beyond measure, decided that she was not ready to yet hang up the towel and call it quits. She had too much invested into this thing called marriage to just end it all and start over. She decided to pursue me, even though I had lost the privilege of being pursued. She forgave me even though I did not deserve forgiveness.

I retreated into myself, and was really honestly not worth much as a human being. I devolved into a pitiful waste of skin. I was miserable. My guilt and shame was intense.

Eventually, through a chain of events, one of them losing my job at AT&T, I came to a cross roads of decision. Was I going to continue to be miserable, or was I going to pick myself up, except the forgiveness that had been handed to me, and do something with my life? Was I going to rise up out of my ashes?

I chose to rise. I chose to accept the forgiveness that had been handed to me. Not only by my wife, but by my best friend - who's daughter I had happened to be cheating with! I also embraced the forgiveness of my church family who accepted me back with open arms and acted like nothing had every happened.

The podcast launched, it has been on a steady growth pattern from the beginning, and my family life is stronger than it has ever been.

So now I go back to the beginning of this post and tell the people that are about to go down the same road that I have already walked: Suck it up, buttercup, and quit whining!

Some of you may be in that rough patch now, some of you may be approaching one, and some may have already went through it. While I believe that not every marriage and relationship can be saved, it is certainly worth a try. No matter what you have done, or what the other person may have done, if you just stick it out long enough, you will eventually come out on the other side stronger and better.

So my "Valentine'd Day Message" is simple. Suck it up, buttercup, and quit whining. You can do this. You can make it. Keep trying.

Even a remnant...

My Mother-In-Law was a seamstress. She could make anything with a needle and thread. She could make you a 3 piece suit out of wool that would look like it came from the most expensive stores. She could make any dress you could imagine, and she could do it without a pattern to go off of. Mend it, or make it from scratch, there was nothing that she could not do. She was amazing.

In the process of creating something for her clients, or just for the people that she loved, there would always be a little bit of scrap material left over. They are more commonly called remnants. These remnants would accumulate on the floor, where they would be trampled underfoot for days by her and any who entered her shop. After a while, the remnants would pile up to the point that she would have to pick them up.

By now they were dirty, filthy pieces of garment not good for anything except the dumpster out back. But she just could not part with them. She simply could not let them go. Even these little bits of dirty and dusty nothing where good for something, she would say to those that asked why she would choose to save them.

Loaded into a white garbage bag, they would sit forgotten in the corner for the longest time. So now they were dirty, forgotten bits of useless material sitting in a garbage bag in an out of the way corner.

Then one day, seemingly out of the blue, you would walk into her shop and those garbage bags would be scattered about her feet as she calmly sowed away while singing softly to some song on the radio. A week later and those dirty, forgotten bits of nothing, were assembled together into the most beautiful quilt you ever saw.

Now, that they were properly assembled together by the hands of a loving creator that possessed a clear vision of their potential, they were amazing to behold. They were priceless.

She never sold a single one of those quilts. Instead, they went to someone as a gift. A gift that was treasured by person that she gave them to, and coveted by everyone else that saw it.

A priceless and precious creation from a garbage bag of discarded remnants.

This morning, I picked up my iPhone and opened my bible app that gives me a verse of the day. It popped up a scripture from the little read book of Micah.

Micah 7:18 Where is another God like you who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of His special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because You delight in showing unfailing love.

You may be a remnant, but you are loved. You may be a remnant, but you have purpose. You may be a remnant, but in the hands of the creator, you are a priceless treasure.

Peace, out, yall'. I needs me some coffee.

Join me live!

Today we start a brand new thing. Live message streaming every Sunday and Wednesday.

Are you ready to see a different side of "the PSG"? How about the singing photographer? (That probably just scared you half to death.) This morning we will be live streaming my church service. I have the job of opening the service, and I also get to sing on our worship team. Consider joining me this Sunday morning for just a few minutes. I promise to sing a song meant just for you.

I know that you might not go to church. Probably because church burned you in some way. Well if you tune in for the first 10 minutes, I have a 5 minute message just for you.

Every Sunday morning and evening, and every Wed. evening too.

Every Sunday at 10 AM Central,
Every Sunday at 6 PM Central,
Every Wed. at 7 PM Central

Just click the TV screen below.


Not compatible with iPad and iPhone. Sorry!

Who Is The Saint and Who Is The Sinner?

The following is a guest post by a gentleman in India. I read it on his blog, and decided to post it here with his permission. It addresses the notion of who is the saint and who is the sinner.

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By Debesh | Published December 31, 2012

Thousands of photographs. Hundreds of miles. Tens of days. All on the road.

For photography. For passion. For a dream. And what a beautiful journey it has been. A journey within. Each photograph of mine, good and bad, allowed me to reflect. On why I created that particular photograph. On what I felt when I was there. On life.

Many lessons. Most happy, others not so. But all important. Indelible. Each a milestone along a beautiful path. Never easy. Always beautiful. The road less traveled. That path.

I wanted my last post this year to be short. And have just one photograph. To epitomize all that I learnt. To tell me what I need to do. Here it is. The saint and the sinner.

It tells me life isn’t easy. It tells me the power of prayer. It expresses hope. Courage. And faith. In something. Someone. Larger than us. Much more powerful. It says much to me. Perhaps it might to you. Only if you feel. Who is the saint? Who is the sinner? Who created these distinctions? Is there any difference between them and me?

None. There are no boundaries. No lines. I am the saint. I am the sinner. I am all that there is. I am you. And you are me.

I believe this. Because I feel what you feel. What they feel. Just the same way. That is all that I need to remember. To never lose the ability to feel. Only then can I love.

God bless all of you. This is to 2013.